In Iowa, British-Accented Radio Host Draws G.O.P. Hopefuls

Simon Conway, in the WHO-AM studio Wednesday with Rick Santorum, who guessed he had been on the show five times.Credit
Eric Thayer for The New York Times

DES MOINES — If you’re competing in the Iowa caucuses, there’s a new obligatory stop on the campaign trail this year, and it’s not a greasy spoon or an evangelical church.

It’s the WHO-AM radio show of Simon Conway. Mr. Conway, while cutting and often brash, does not fit the conservative talk radio mold. For one, he is British by birth, and his thick accent can be somewhat disorienting as it booms from stereos here in the heartland. He also happens to be Jewish, a fact that seems lost on many listeners, especially those wishing him Merry Christmas.

“Rick Perry. Had him in last Friday for an hour,” Mr. Conway said in an interview this week.

Newt Gingrich? “I’ve looked him in the eye. Twice had him in.”

Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Herman Cain and Rick Santorum, who stopped in for an hourlong interview on Wednesday, have all been on his afternoon show several times. Mitt Romney has yet to agree to come on, though Mr. Conway said his campaign was mulling a request.

On the national stage, Fox News is the media outlet of choice for Republican candidates, who are sitting for continuous rounds of interviews and spending considerable sums on advertising, because the network is a surefire way to reach large numbers of conservatives.

But in Iowa, WHO-AM (1040) plays that role, as the most listened-to and widely broadcast news radio station in the state.

Unlike the state’s segmented television markets — from Sioux City in the West to Des Moines in the center to Cedar Rapids in the East — WHO offers the only truly statewide broadcast.

“It’s a 50,000-watt blowtorch,” said Matthew Strawn, chairman of the Iowa Republican Party. According to Arbitron, nearly 65,000 people across Iowa tune in during the 3 to 7 p.m. afternoon drive period at any given point during the week — the largest in Iowa for talk radio. And given the demographics of talk radio — the audience tends to skew toward the politically attuned, conservative type that Republican candidates want to reach — WHO offers a highly focused way for campaigns to convey their messages, through interviews or advertising.

Mr. Conway was named in April to WHO’s storied roster of hosts — Ronald Reagan made a name for himself as a WHO sportscaster in the 1930s — replacing Steve Deace, a firebrand religious conservative whose 4 p.m. program had been a must-visit destination for Republican candidates. (Mr. Deace now hosts a syndicated radio show.) The choice to hire Mr. Conway was a bold one for the Des Moines station, which has always prided itself on its Hawkeye heritage. But minus the accent, he seems right at home here.

“He is very good at stirring the pot, and I have some admiration for how quickly he was able to figure Iowa out,” said Stephen Winzenburg, a professor of communications at Grand View University here who studies the intersection of media and politics. “He’s good at working the system, figuring out who the key players are and inviting them on his show.”

Mr. Strawn of the state Republican Party said that Mr. Conway set sights on him early. Shortly after Mr. Conway started at WHO, the Republican leader said he got a text message from him proposing that they meet.

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Mr. Conway, 51, who has a broad chest and swept-back brown hair that is graying slightly around the temples, wears an American flag pin on his lapel, a gold necklace with a Hebrew chai pendant and cowboy boots. He cast his first ballot in an American election in 2008. “That was for McCain,” he said, wincing and plugging his nose. His dog, a rescued chocolate Labrador retriever, is named Reagan.

His interviews, which tend to be freewheeling and nonconfrontational, have produced some memorable moments in the presidential campaign. He prompted Representative Ron Paul of Texas to admit that his noninterventionist foreign policy would have precluded him from carrying out the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. And in comments that grabbed headlines, Mr. Perry, the governor of Texas, told Mr. Conway that he would fire Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke.

And Mr. Conway has been known to press candidates on their immigration views. An immigrant himself, Mr. Conway frequently calls for a more sensible process. “I handed over my fingerprints 17 times,” he said, sounding exasperated as he interviewed Mr. Gingrich recently.

He often refers to his years living in Europe to draw parallels between socialist governments and what he believes is an American welfare state run amok. “We’re getting to the point where we’re becoming Europe,” he said. “I thought I had a lot more time before what I lived through over there got here. And it’s coming here like a bullet train.”

Mr. Conway has railed against what he sees as the secularization of American society, particularly as it relates to public displays of faith. At the opening of his show, he declares his studio “a holiday-tree-free zone” and wishes listeners Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah. Some listeners have sent him hate mail for referring to Hanukkah.

Much like the typical Republican voter, he has issues with all of this year’s candidates. “There’s no perfect candidate out there,” he said, adding that he will not endorse a candidate.

Mr. Conway spent most of his childhood in London but moved to Israel at 16 because his mother, stricken with cancer, decided she wanted to spend her final days there. His first job in journalism was with The Jerusalem Post, where he became a junior contributor when he was still in high school. Living there, he said, had a profound effect on him. “Israelis live for the day,” he said.

He moved back to Britain and freelanced for tabloids, including The Sunday Mirror and The News of the World. He later ran a corporate communications firm, but decided to move to the United States in 2001. He said he initially planned to move the next year, but the Sept. 11 attacks prompted him to go earlier, his own private act of defiance to the terrorists.

He managed properties in Kissimmee, Fla., and became a real estate agent. His first radio show in the Orlando area was supposed to be about real estate, but strayed into current events. Stations across the South soon asked him to fill in as a guest host.

As Mr. Santorum settled into a chair across from Mr. Conway in the studio on Wednesday, the candidate leaned back and stretched out his arms behind his head. He seemed at ease. When Mr. Conway thanked him for visiting the show for a third time, Mr. Santorum replied, “I swear it’s been four or five times.”

A version of this article appears in print on December 16, 2011, on Page A29 of the New York edition with the headline: An Iowa Talk Radio Host With a British Accent Draws G.O.P. Hopefuls. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe